Populations of all kinds of wildlife are declining at alarming speed. One radical solution is to make 50% of the planet a nature reserve

The orangutan is one of our planet’s most distinctive and intelligent creatures. It has been observed using primitive tools, such as the branch of a tree, to hunt food, and is capable of complex social behaviour. Orangutans also played a special role in humanity’s own intellectual history when, in the 19th century, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, co-developers of the theory of natural selection, used observations of them to hone their ideas about evolution.

But humanity has not repaid orangutans with kindness. The numbers of these distinctive, red-maned primates are now plummeting thanks to our destruction of their habitats and illegal hunting of the species. Last week, an international study revealed that its population in Borneo, the animal’s last main stronghold, now stands at between 70,000 and 100,000, less than half of what it was in 1995. “I expected to see a fairly steep decline, but I did not anticipate it would be this large,” said one of the study’s co-authors, Serge Wich of Liverpool John Moores University.

New president calls on South Africa to unite as police step up hunt for former leader’s son and missing Gupta brother

Cyril Ramaphosa, the new president of South Africa, is expected to move within days to purge his cabinet of ministers tainted by allegations of corruption, and to intensify efforts to bring to trial high-profile businessmen alleged to have made millions under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

Ramaphosa, 65, hailed a “new dawn” in South Africa in his first major speech on Friday and promised to fight to “turn the tide of corruption in our public institutions”. His speech, with its call to all South Africans to unite to set the country on a new path, prompted an outpouring of enthusiastic patriotism in the media.

He entered office on a wave of energy but, as discontent grows over his attitude to abuse scandals, Francis faces opposition on all sides

Chatham House is one of the most important foreign affairs thinktanks in the UK. But on Wednesday its focus will not be a president, or an organisation like the World Bank, or the future of the EU after Brexit, but a religious leader: Pope Francis. And it will be the third time in recent weeks that Britain has turned its attention to the pope.

Two weeks ago, the Foreign Office-sponsored thinktank Wilton Park took delegates to the Vatican to meet the pope and discuss violent religious extremism, while last week the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, was in Rome to talk with Francis about modern slavery.

The upcoming election has unleashed a tide of anti-migrant action, whose roots can be traced to the financial crisis and the country’s weakened leftwing

Pape Diaw, originally from Senegal, arrived in Florence to study engineering in the late 1970s. Part of a group of 15 African students, he inspired curiosity among his Italian counterparts and the wider community, but never encountered racism. “I remember walking along the street and people would ask to have a photo taken,” he said.

“We were seen as a novelty, but never insulted. When we went to process our residency permits, the police officers would give us coffee.

The commission of a lifetime for Amy Sherald has kickstarted a conversation about art, politics and culture

She is a Baltimore-based artist who only paints African-American subjects and always uses a muted palette. But last week, Amy Sherald became the art world’s latest sensation as her portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama was unveiled in Washington.

Sherald, 44, almost didn’t get to paint Obama. She put away her brushes for three years to care for her family in Georgia. Then, in 2012, she collapsed and underwent a heart transplant that meant she needed another year to recuperate.

Jewish and Muslim leaders condemn first European country to propose ban

Iceland is poised to become the first European country to outlaw male circumcision amid signs that the ritual common to both Judaism and Islam may be a new battleground over religious freedom.

A bill currently before the Icelandic parliament proposes a penalty of up to six years in prison for anyone carrying out a circumcision other than for medical reasons. Critics say the move, which has sparked alarm among religious leaders across Europe, would make life for Jews and Muslims in Iceland unsustainable.

Tanks retaliate against look-out post in Gaza, with no casualties, say Palestinian authorities

Four IDF soldiers have been wounded, two seriously, in an explosion on Saturday along Israel’s border with Gaza, the Israeli military said. All four were evacuated for medical treatment.

In response, the military said, one of its tanks struck an observation post in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials said the target belonged to the Islamic Jihad group and that there were no casualties on the Palestinian side.

Neither country will benefit from a new Middle East conflict, but unless they cease military clashes, such as those inside Syria last weekend, hopes of peace remain fragile

Tensions between Israel and Iran have hit a new high following last weekend’s unprecedented military clashes inside Syria. The fighting has intensified fears that the Middle East is heading for all-out war. But such alarming predictions assume both protagonists standing toe-to-toe, actuallywant to fight. Is this reallytrue?

Iran is portrayed as a wanton aggressor, especially by the Trump administration and the Saudis. It has steadily expanded its military presence in Syria since supporting Bashar al-Assad after 2011, deploying Afghan and Pakistani Shia militias, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and its own Revolutionary Guards.

Non-invasive imaging reveals landscape painting beneath Pablo Picasso’s The Crouching Beggar but who created it remains a mystery

Wrapped in a mustard coloured blanket with a white scarf and her head on one side, Pablo Picasso’s La Misereuse Accroupie (The Crouching Beggar) is a study of forlorn resignation. But researchers say that there is more to desolate character than meets the eye.

Beneath the mournful image lies another painting, a landscape, researchers have revealed after using non-invasive imaging techniques to examine the work.

Judge dismisses former assistant’s challenge to lawsuit, which claims she knew of Weinstein’s predation and helped facilitate attacks

A Canadian judge has rejected a bid to dismiss an anonymous actor’s $4m sexual assault lawsuit against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, his former assistant and two entertainment companies.

In a ruling released on Friday, the Toronto judge Patrick Monohan dismissed a challenge to the actor’s lawsuit filed by Weinstein’s former assistant Barbara Schneeweiss which argued that theallegations concerning her had expired under Ontario statute of limitations laws.

After an economic slump lasting years, Dongguan – the home of ‘Made in China’ – is reinventing itself as a robotics base

This month Dongguan, in the heart of the Pearl River Delta economic zone of south China, is transformed from a city of migrants into a city of ghosts.

The Chinese New Year holiday marks the start of the biggest annual human migration on the planet. During the Spring Festival travel rush – or Chunyun in Mandarin – which runs from 1 February to 12 March 2018, it’s estimated that Chinese returning to their home towns for family reunions will make 2.98 billion trips. According to China’s National Development and Reform Commission, in total, 2.48 billion road trips, 390 million rail trips, 65 million air trips and 46 million boat trips are expected to be made over the 40-day period. Nowhere is this large-scale migration likely to be more evident than in Dongguan, an industrial city in central Guangdong province.

When sociologist Richard Sennett was fleeced by an iPhone dealer in Delhi, the pair struck up a friendship that opened a window into the informality of modern cities

In the south-east of Delhi, a vast T-shaped market has arisen on top of an underground parking garage.

Nehru Place came into being because in the 1970s Delhi did not have enough commercial real estate to house its burgeoning small businesses. Original plans show the plaza above the parking garage as empty, and lined with low, four-storey buildings meant for offices rather than shops. Today, there remain traces of that intention. The boxy buildings lining the sides of Nehru Place form a downmarket version of Silicon Valley. Here, tech startups occupy cramped rooms next to computer repair shops and cut-rate travel agents.

For four years, photographer Jonathan Rentschler spent most days or nights at Love Park in Philadelphia, documenting the skateboarding community that congregated there before its closure for renovation in 2016

There are “Ulster Says No” cigarette lighters, Orange Order Christmas decorations and banknotes mocked up with an image of Gerry Adams at the time of the 2004 Northern Bank heist in Belfast. In all, Peter Moloney has collected 40,000 such artefacts, all culled from decades of political turmoil and bloody strife.

Moloney, a retired London-based architect, has spent 50 years accumulating the largest array of memorabilia relating to the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland – a labour of love that began when he was just 15. And this month he finally packed up the unique historical treasure trove and sent it back to Northern Ireland, where it will go on public display. The exhibition will coincide with what is regarded as the 50th anniversary of the beginning of a bloody chapter, sparked by the Catholic civil rights movement of the late 1960s.

The peasant rebels took up arms in 1994, and now number 300,000 in centres with their own doctors, teachers and currency, but rarely answer questions – until now

Diners in the Tierradentro cafe in the southern Mexican town of San Cristóbal de las Casas can choose between a variety of omelettes. The “Liberty” has the most ingredients, the “Democracy” looks the best, but the “Justice” costs the most – possibly because it comes with cheese.

The restaurant is one of many celebrating, or cashing in on, the Zapatistas, the indigenous peasant rights movement from dirt-poor Chiapas state, which took up arms and occupied San Cristóbal on 1 January 1994, the day Mexico signed up to Nafta, the North American free trade agreement.

Stark realities underpin Aamir, Vika Evdokimenko’s ostensibly fictional tale of a young migrant forced to fend for himself

Aamir is just 13. Like many teenagers, his coming of age is marked by a wispy moustache above his upper lip, a vulnerability in his hunched shoulders, a voice not yet broken.

But after soldiers break into his family home in Mosul and shoot and kill his father, Aamir must become a man. His mother sends him away with a few wads of cash and his father’s watch as insurance, hoping to give him a better life – one he might actually survive. But as the boy tries to find his feet all alone in a foreign world, will he end up losing his mind in the process?

Aid agencies are learning how to deal with sexual misconduct more sensitively – let’s give them space to do so

The #MeToo movement has been sparking change across the world. Now the humanitarian community has become the latest sector forced to recognise it has a serious problem that has been neglected for too long.

The scandal has highlighted sexual abuse committed by Oxfam staff in Haiti in 2011. Employees who paid for sex were allowed to resign and, while the incident could have been handled better, it sparked a change in the organisation. They introduced stronger policies and processes, strengthened their investigative department. Oxfam began taking a zero-tolerance policy in actions, not just words. Were an accusation made now, it would be handled differently.

The chief executive of Oxfam has hit back at the storm of criticism surrounding the charity’s sex exploitation scandal in Haiti, claiming attacks on the organisation are “out of proportion to the level of culpability”.

In an interview with the Guardian, Mark Goldring repeated his apology for Oxfam’s failings and acknowledged that major reforms were needed. But warning that the controversy has already affected vital donations, he accused critics of “gunning” for the charity and said some were motivated in part by an anti-aid agenda.

Investigation finds President Michel Temer among 51 politicians who received donations from firms accused of labour abuses

More than one in 10 of Brazil’s high-ranking politicians, among them President Michel Temer, received campaign donations from companies linked to modern-day slavery, an investigation has found.

Party leaders, state secretaries and five of ex-president Dilma Rousseff’s governors are among the elected parliamentarians who received R$3.5m (£760,000) during the last general election, according to the NGO Repórter Brasil.

Robert Mueller has revealed audacious meddling in the 2016 election. Can he link it to Trump?

The plot against America began in 2014. Thousands of miles away, in a drab office building in St Petersburg, Russia, a fake newsroom was under construction with its own graphics, data analysis, search engine optimisation, IT and finance departments. Its mission: ”information warfare against the United States of America”.

What followed, according to an indictment brought by the US special counsel, Robert Mueller, on Friday, was a stunningly successful attack on the most powerful democracy in the world. It involved stolen identities, fake social media accounts, rallies organised from afar, US citizens duped into doing Moscow’s bidding, and two Russians going undercover in a ruse reminiscent of The Americans, a TV drama about KGB spies in suburban Washington during the cold war.

I try so hard not to let tragedies like the one that happened at a Florida high school this week feel like just another shooting. This happens so often, it’s easy to fall into frozen despair. If child after child is killed, and still our politicians do nothing – how can we expect anything to change?

The truth is that we have to stop voting for Republicans; we have to stop voting for people who take money from the NRA. At this point, I consider them nothing less than a terrorist organization – what else would you call a group that ensures I have to have a conversation with my seven-year-old about playing dead should she be unable to run away from a shooter.

HR McMaster, US national security adviser, says the evidence of Russian meddling during the 2016 elections is ‘incontrovertible’. McMaster’s comments were made in response to a question on the topic of US-Russia dialogue on cyber security at the Munich security conference

Hundreds gathered on Thursday for a prayer vigil at Parkridge church, in Parkland, Florida, after a school shooting in which 17 people were killed. Suspect Nikolas Cruz, 19, was arrested more than an hour after shooting began at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school. He was detained after mixing with students fleeing the scene.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, has appeared in court charged with murder of 17 people and will be held in jail without bond, a Broward County judge has ordered. The ex-student walked into the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland on 14 February and opened fire on students and teachers, Broward County sheriff Scott Israel said. Police believe he acted alone

Cyril Ramaphosa has taken over as president of South Africa and, in a thinly veiled reference to accusations levelled against his predecessor Jacob Zuma, vowed to fight corruption. Ramaphosa was sworn in less than 16 hours after Zuma resigned, having defiantly refused to leave office for days. Wearing a dark suit and red tie, Ramaphosa, 65, sat quietly while lawmakers from the ruling African National Congress stood, clapped and sang in celebration. He was appointed unopposed

The US president has called for 'healing and peace' a day after a 19-year-old man was accused of killing at least 17 people at a Florida high school, saying his administration will work to improve school safety and address mental illness problems. 'We must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections,' Trump said at the White House, adding that he planned to visit victims and local authorities in Parkland at a later date

Footage captures the moment officers arrest a man suspected of carrying out an attack at a school in Florida, in which 17 people were killed. Aerial footage also shows police patting Nikolas Cruz down before putting him in a patrol car. The suspect was a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school